


Hey batter batter

by LivelySpider



Category: Spider-Man (Comicverse), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Early Days, Gender Dysphoria, Kid Peter Parker, Not Canon Compliant, Spider-Man Interacting with New Yorkers, Teen Peter Parker, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Peter Parker, gender euphoria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25176031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivelySpider/pseuds/LivelySpider
Summary: Spidey goes for his first swing.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 84





	Hey batter batter

**Author's Note:**

> Content warning: gender and body dysphoria, brief allusion to death

Peter Parker loved swimming. Or at least, he used to. When he was a kid, it was just about the only physical activity he would do. There was a pool near his old house that his uncle always used to take him too. Little did his uncle know, it wasn’t the exercise or the fun of the activity that appealed to little Peter. It was the physics of it. He was enthralled by the feeling of weightlessness. He wanted to understand how a person could float when logically, their weight should cause them to sink. Somehow at age 7, Peter Parker had managed to make sports nerdy. Is swimming a sport? Whatever.

Y’know when you’re trans and closeted and starting to go through puberty and the thought of wearing a swimsuit, especially a girl’s swimsuit that highlights all the parts of yourself you hate, makes you wanna disappear into a void and never come out? Yeah... 

Uncle Ben never really understood why Peter stopped swimming. Why something that used to make him so happy, suddenly seemed to make him miserable. And unfortunately, he never got to.

Anyways, none of that is strictly relevant to the fact that 15-year old Peter Parker is about to throw himself off a building for the first time.

“You better work.” He said as he loaded his homemade web formula into the dispenser he had built around his wrist, with the trigger resting in his palm. 

“I mean I know you work on the ground but…” He took his first look over the ledge. “Yeah.” Peter had a tendency to talk to the things he makes. That’s probably normal, right?

Peter had figured he wasn’t ready for a Manhattan jump, thinking instead he’d start with one of the shorter buildings in Long Island City. Though after the climb up he just took, he’s not so sure he’s even ready for that. Still, any route he’d take down was probably gonna suck so he might as well commit.

“You better work too.” He gestured at the reflection of himself in a window. Talking to himself seemed slightly more normal I guess. Really none of this was normal though. 

He was wearing a bright blue ski mask with goggles built into it and a red hoodie. The goggles were his own design, built to protect his eyes but also substitute for his glasses. On the hoodie he’d drawn a big spider insignia in sharpie, a tribute to the little friend that got him here… to this very… very… high roof.

From the right angle he almost looked like a superhero. I mean, a very short and kinda baggy looking superhero. His dysphoria precludes tight spandex from being an option, at least for the moment. A lot of the time he still just feels like he’s playing pretend. Anyways, now to jump off this building.

“It’s no big deal. It’s no big deal! You just gotta get a running start. Yeah? Yeah.” He assured himself, anxiously swinging his arms back and forth getting ready to run and jump. 

“3… 2… NOPE.”

Why was this so hard? I guess he’d been taught his whole life that jumping off of buildings is generally an unhealthy life choice so that might have something to do with it. But still, it’s not like he doesn’t trust his tech or his powers. Again, he had to literally crawl up a wall to get here.

Peter was doing a million calculations in his head. How long would it take for him to hit the ground? When would he have to release the web to avoid that? Where would he have to aim? How will the wind affect his trajectory? How much of his own strength will he have to use? Should he be doing this? He probably shouldn’t be doing this? He probably should not try and be a superhero because who is he even kidding? 

He sat with these thoughts for a long time. A lot of the arguments he came up with to “just not” were particularly convincing. And yet he couldn’t get himself to leave the roof. He had to try this. He didn’t know why. But he had to.

“I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.” Peter repeated this to himself over and over. Hoping if he said it enough he’d believe it. He continued this chant as he began to properly run towards the corner of the roof. 

His heart skipped a beat as he felt his feet leave the ground. He wanted more than anything to close his eyes, but he knew he couldn't. “Eyes on the air, webhead.” And then, right as he felt his jump begin to turn into a fall...

*THWIP*

He felt the web latch onto the nearest building like it was a part of him. In one swift move, he released the trigger and grasped onto the web just like he practiced. He felt his own weight push him forward at incredible speed.

“Woah woah WOAH!” As he swung upwards he released the web and landed with a thud on the next building, still on his feet but catching the ground with his hand. Did he just do that? I think he just did that. It should’ve been terrifying. Everything leading up to it was terrifying. But instead, that was… amazing.

Peter doesn’t give it a second thought before running into another jump.

He had thought it would feel like riding a rollercoaster, but instead he felt totally in control. As he released another web, flying into the air, Peter recognized what he was feeling. Weightlessness. Every time he should fall he could pull himself back up again. Except this time the feeling was something completely unique to him. It was his own, on his terms. And the farther he falls, the higher he can fly. That’s called momentum folks. 

“WOO-HOOO!” This whoop of joy is practically yanked out of him as he’s thrown above a skyscraper he usually has to look up at. The yell was a little embarrassing but he couldn’t have stopped it if he tried. He hadn’t felt like this in years, and he suddenly felt it stronger than he ever had before. Besides, it meant he was remembering to breathe.

He tried catapulting himself, running on the side of buildings, spinning and flipping midair, everything he could think of. Getting in as much practice as he could before the day ends.

At some point Peter realized he wasn’t doing the math anymore while he swung across the city. It just came to him naturally like this is what he was meant to do and who he was meant to be. He just kept going and going without any care for where. He was just enjoying the thrill that he could even do this. And after he had been so nervous. I mean Peter. Peter Parker. Peter Benjamin Parker. Was FLYING. Okay he wasn’t technically flying, but he might as well have been. And for once, Peter didn’t care about technically.

Finally, he needed a break and so he swung over and landed gracefully on the fire escape of a nearby apartment building. Pulling off his now very sweaty mask.

As he caught his breath, Peter couldn’t help but think about every boy he’d ever been jealous of. The guys he wanted to be. The ones he thought had everything he never could. The ones who made fun of him and the ones who he tried to befriend but who never gave him a chance. None of them, not one of them, could do what he just did.

Suddenly, the window Peter’s leaning against opened. He scrambled to yank his mask back on as he stumbled towards the railing.

“Hey buddy! Watcha doin on my fire escape?” Yelled the disgruntled man poking his head out the window. He said it less as a question and more as a “leave.”

“Hey! Yeah! Sorry! I -uh- I just thought- Do you need any help um, escaping a fire?” Peter cringed as that sentence escaped from his brain. 

The guy just gave him a long blank stare.

“Of course you don’t. Totally valid. I’ll get out of your hair.” Peter put a leg up on the railing and got ready to jump off again.

“WHOA! HEY! What’re you doing?” The guy suddenly sounded less angry and a lot more scared. Peter turned around confused. Why was he being yelled at? 

“What?”

“Who do you think you are?” The guy yelled. Peter looked down where he was about to jump.

“Oh.” Yeah I guess that would look a little weird. He got off the railing and extended a hand to the guy. 

“I’m Spider-Man.” 

Peter had thought a lot about what it would feel like to say that. How awkward or embarrassing it would be. But instead it came out naturally. Like it was obvious. He’s Spider-Man.

The guy shook his hand. “You’re crazy.”

“That’s what they tell me. And- And also what you tell me.” There’s the awkward. But hey whatever he’s having a good day. He looked briefly back over the edge, a sly smile building invisibly under his mask.

“Wanna see something cool?”


End file.
